Canyoneering in the Grand Canyon
Monday, December 19th, 2011Last night in St George, we checked out a great presentation by Todd Martin, Rich Rudow and Dan Ransom. All three were showing photos and stories of their canyoneering exploration into the Grand Canyon.
Because of the it’s size, the Grand Canyon poses challenges to modern day canyoneers. It’s big; 16 miles wide and 1 mile deep in most spots; remote, has extreme weather conditions, and oh, yeah, the river to cross! Until Todd, Rich and Dan started exploring the technical side canyons of the Grand Canyon, most were only seen by river runners, hiking up from the river while on a Grand Canyon float trip. Canyoneers typically descend canyons from top-down, so these guys had a lot of adventure finding hiking routes to the top and descending into the the unknown.
The slideshow highlighted the new guidebook, by Todd Martin:
http://www.toddshikingguide.com/GrandCanyoneering/
The book is comprehensive and full of great photos. It’s amazing to see canyons with rappels up to 450′! Another new canyoneering technique is using a packraft to navigate the mighty Colorado River when needed.
The evening was capped with Dan Ransom, a Utah-based photographer and canyoneer, showing a preview of the movie the group is working on. The full length show will most likely debut in Spring 2012, but here is a great preview of how the canyons in Grand Canyon look:
We’re excited to see the finished product! Thanks to Rich Rudow, Todd Martin, Dan Ransom, Bo Beck and the Desert Rat and St George Art Museum for collaborating on a great presentation.